Creamy Vegan Cheesecake

Creamy Vegan Cheesecake? YES! Count me in! 🙂 My #1 all-time favorite cake has been reevaluated and improved – for all the beautiful souls craving some real cheesecake goodness. Let’s be honest, raw cheesecakes are fine and delicious on their own but they’re miles away from the experience you get when taking a bite of that creamy baked cheesecake! While my Baked Cheesecake recipe is coming pretty close to that experience, it just can’t compare to this one. This Creamy Vegan Cheesecake is everything you wish for and more (not exaggerated here)!

Trust my word – as a compassionate cheesecake lover! 😛 If you’re looking for the real deal, but vegan and healthier, without refined sugars and all that dairy-crap, look no more and immediately try this creamy vegan cheesecake! You can thank me later… 😉

The secret ingredient for its amazing texture and creaminess is a combination of chickpeas (YES!) and cashews – an idea I got from the wonderful Mel over at A Virtual Vegan. If you don’t know her blog yet, make sure to check it out, like her on Facebook & Instagram and show some love!

CHICKPEAS?! – you might think… YES! If you follow me for a while you’ll know that it’s my favorite ingredient to secretly incorporate into healthy desserts. Ranging from cookies, cookie dough, cakes and pancakes, I’ve tried it all! Chickpeas are not only super nutritious but you won’t taste them at all in desserts as the sweet flavor completely takes over!

For more chickpea inspiration and in case you haven’t tried them yet, check out my Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites – and prepare to fall in LOVE!

For this creamy vegan cheesecake, I’ve created an incredibly healthy raw crust, replacing the usual expensive Medjool Dates (getting too many complaints there) with dried figs and topped it off with a delicious, naturally-sweetened cherry sauce. Since it is still the last week of cherry season here in Cyprus, it seemed liked the perfect fit!

I’ve made this cake about 4-5 times by now and it just keeps on getting better. I tweak the recipe every time, make it more lemony or less, but it always turns out delicious! It easily has become my boyfriend’s favorite and has been approved by his whole non-vegan office + his mum! 🙂

If there is one cake I’d recommend to win over non-vegan folks, or people who don’t believe in healthy plant-based baking (for some weird reason) it would be this one! 100%!

If you decide to give this beauty a try, let me know! Leave a comment and rate it – it’s so helpful to me and other readers. And don’t forget to take a picture and tag me (@thetastyk) and #thetastyk on Instagram! I love seeing what you come up with. Love and enjoy! ♥

1 can (400ml) full-fat coconut milk (to keep it lower in fat you can use ½ can coconut milk + ½ block silken tofu - it adds nutrients and the result is equally creamy)

2 Tbsp cornstarch

Cherry sauce:

1.5 cups frozen unsweetened cherries

⅓ cup fresh orange juice

1 Tbsp cornstarch

Instructions

For the crust, place the oats and almonds in your high-speed blender or food processor and pulse until you have a fine flour.

Add the remaining crust ingredients and blend until you have a sticky dough.

Line a round cake tin with parchment paper and press the dough into the bottom of the tin.

Use your fingers and eventually a bit of water to evenly press it down and put in the fridge to chill.

Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F.

Prepare the filling by simply adding all ingredients to the blender and mixing on medium speed until smooth (use your tamper tool to mash it down).

Once smooth, pour the filling over the crust and place in the oven for 45-50 minutes. If your oven is very strong like mine and browns the surface too fast, make sure to turn the cake once in a while so it browns evenly.

Once it's done, take it out, let cool down and store in the fridge overnight (it will firm up).

The next day, prepare the cherry sauce. Add all the ingredients into a small sauce pan, bring to a simmer over medium heat and let cook for 5 minutes.

Stir once in a while and serve on top of the cake.

Notes

As in all of my recipes, 1 cup equals 250 ml.

3.5.3208

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Made this cake yesterday, kept it it in the fridge overnight to eat today, it’s delicious! Super creamy! A very different taste and texture to other vegan cakes I make. Quite big though for 2 of us, so I’ve put slices in the freezer.

Try another plant-based milk that is high in fat, or some sort of creamer. The coconut milk is what makes the cake super creamy because it’s high in fat. I haven’t tried it with soy milk, but a combination of soy milk + soy yogurt should work fine 🙂

This was really fantastic! I didn’t know what to expect from vegan cheesecake, but it was so easy to make and the texture is the real deal. I also added some homemade coconut whipped cream to the top. My diabetic mother ate it and it didn’t spike her blood sugar at all. Thanks for perfecting such a great recipe! Your cookie bites were also delicious!

This looks delicious! I will try to make this today…I was just wondering…it is quit hard to find almond butter where I live…can I substitute almond butter with something else instead or just leave it out completely?

Hello, I must say this cheesecake looks superb!I can not wait to make it but was wondering if you have ever tried swirling in a fruit as in other non-vegan cheesecakes? I wonder if it would change or effect the consistency – perhaps by adding too much moisture? I normally make my family a cheesecake with a homemade strawberry puree that I swirl in , is the only reason I am asking 🙂 . Thanks again for the recipe and info! Wish me luck it looks as beautiful!

Thank you for sharing your recipe! I’d like to try it but don’t have access to vanilla powder. Will the same amount of vanilla extract work? If so, should I do anything to make up for the added liquid? Thank you again. 🙂

Basically, it’s just a bowl of water that you put in the oven with your cheesecake. The steam is supposed to help your cheesecake from cracking, but I’m not sure if it’s necessary when using these ingredients.

I made this with strawberries instead and it is delicious. I was wondering whether I could make a choc or cookie version of this but put it through the filling instead. Would I leave oh the lemon and apple cider vinegar?

Oh yum! That sounds awesome! 🙂 Sooo for chocolate you would probably add cacao powder and a bit more sweetener (to balance the bitterness of cacao). So I would leave out the lemon but keep the apple cider vinegar 🙂

It’s my first Vegan cake I ever made and I love it !!! I think I will repeat it again and again. I am not vegan but you convinced me that it can be even better than traditional one.
Thank you for that.

Anyways I tried with 4 inch pan, baked 47 min at 320f. Texture is good almost like a real cheesecake, however it lacked the taste of a cheesecake. So maybe I should increase the sweetness , tanginess, and add salt.

Hey Vani, sorry for the late reply as I was on vacation! Glad it worked out well with the 4 inch pan and feel free to adjust the sweetness, lemon, apple cider vinegar to your liking 🙂 shouldn’t change the texture too much!

Thank you so much for this recipe! I was recently diagnosed with alpha-gal meat allergy and can’t eat dairy too! My cheesecake is in the oven as I write and if it tastes like the batter no crumbs, this is a keeper! I’ve never baked vegan before and the cheesecake is for my sons vegan girlfiends birthday cake! I’m going to top with halved strawberries and drizzle with dairy free chocolate sauce….yummm!

Oh yay! Happy that you like it! 🙂 I’ve honestly never tried it without the coconut milk. The high fat content of the coconut makes sure it get nice and creamy so if you were to replace it it should be something equally high in fat

My cake never got brown on the top. I left 50 min then kept adding 5 min and checking, with a total of 15 more minutes, as it was still not brown I decided to take it out. Did this ever happen to you?
I am making this for my son’s birthday tomorrow. One of my sons is vegan. It looks delicious, I hope it comes out good!

Hey Anna! My oven gave me only the opposite problem 🙁 that it got too brown too quickly… I think that’s definitely a problem of the oven calibration. There are videos online on how to properly calibrate your oven… but I hope it comes out great despite it! Tell your son happy birthday! xx